Friends (The Beach Boys album)

Friends is the 14th studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released on June 24, 1968, through Capitol Records. The album is characterized by its brevity and calm atmosphere, spanning orchestral pop, waltzes, bossa nova, and lounge music, a deliberate contrast to the prevailing rock trends of the time. Five of its 12 tracks run less than two minutes long, and some of the songs were inspired by the group's recent involvement with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his Transcendental Meditation practice.

The album was recorded between February and April 1968, primarily at the band's private home studio. Despite crediting production to the group collectively, Brian Wilson actively led the entire project, later referring to it as his second unofficial solo album following Pet Sounds. It continued the lo-fi approach they had pursued since Smiley Smile while returning to the use of studio musicians, albeit in smaller configurations, and Burt Bacharach-influenced compositions. It was the band's first album to feature songs from Dennis Wilson and to be mixed and released exclusively in true stereo.

Lead single "Friends" (B-side "Little Bird") reached number 47 in the U.S. and number 25 in the UK. In May, the group aborted a national tour with the Maharishi after five shows due to low ticket sales and the Maharishi's subsequent withdrawal. Upon release, Friends received favorable reviews but sold poorly, peaking at number 126 on the Billboard charts, the group's lowest U.S. chart performance at that point, although it reached number 13 in the UK. A standalone single, "Do It Again" (B-side "Wake the World"), was released in July and reached the U.S. top twenty, became their second number-one hit in the UK, and was included in foreign pressings of the album.

In later years, fans generally came to regard Friends as one of the band's finest albums. Despite the tour's failure, the group remained supporters of the Maharishi and his teachings. In 2018, session highlights, outtakes, and alternate takes were released on the compilation Wake the World: The Friends Sessions.